


Womanly Wiles

by Tsuukai



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: F/M, Female Aomine, Genderbending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 11:04:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2107452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsuukai/pseuds/Tsuukai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dai hates dressing up because it makes her feel like a woman. </p>
<p>Tonight, however, she is slightly glad that she is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fem!Aomine, so out of character? And add to the fact that I took multiple breaks during this, so I’m not too happy with it. But yea. Here it is, folks!
> 
>  
> 
> And I apologise for changing Aomine's gender. There's the author's first time for everything, I guess.

 

Dai scowled and cursed for the umpteenth time since the evening started. Strutting around in such a tight dress that showed more leg than he club uniform did, she glanced at the corner of her eye at Satsuki and wondered how the girl moved so fluidly without tripping. Concentrating to push one foot in front of the other without gliding, Dai failed to see before her, walking straight into broad shoulders, thumping her head onto it.

The man stiffened, turning around slightly. Unawares, Dai looked up and gasped, stumbling backwards at the uncalled for glare she received from the redhead. She flailed her arms wide and fell backwards, slipping off her feet. Just as she was losing her footing, a strong hand gripped her steady, and only when she was not swaying did the hold leave her body.

Dai frowned; her glossed lips glinting at it caught the dim overhead lights.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. She glanced up and around, hoping to see Satsuki backtracking towards her before she did worse things than nearly stumbling onto her ass. _Fucking heels_.

“There’s something else you should say before that, don’t you think?” came the gruff response to her apology.

Dai snapped her head up at the tall redhead, eyes scrunched at the insinuation, mood souring further. Even with her heels, she still only reached his chin. “Hey now,” her voice was dropping to a snarl, “Don’t go pointing fingers when you’re the one standing around like an idiot.”

Thick red eyebrows furrowed before one curved upwards. She did not like the implication, but was surprised when the other did not comment instantly; he seemed to be a hothead. The man’s mouth curved downwards a bit, and as if chewing his tongue to force himself to say it, he frankly spoke: “You might want to head to the ladies room or something.”

Dai reared her head back. “Hah?” She had no clue what he was insinuating, and not liking it, she snapped at him. “Stop looking down at me and saying whatever. Speak directly if you’re a man!”

“First of all,” his tone did not change which annoyed her since many a man turned to goo when they saw her dressed even an iota close to a girl, but this man? It was as though he was blind. Dai had no need for praise or belligerence; nevertheless she was accustomed to having at least one of the two directed at her. “You speak too rudely for a girl.”

Dai hissed at him, waiting to spring out her sharpened claws at his face. The scars would match his hair that was for sure.

“Second, it’s for your own good I’m telling you this, since your…dress isn’t really made…with a functional aspect.” He gestured lower and blue eyes automatically snapped down to the skirt half of her dress. Her mouth unhinged rather unattractively. “I think,” he was still talking, one mind half paying attention while the other half was in panic overdrive, “I saw them that side.” She did not care for where he pointed; _where was Satsuki when you need her?_ she thought.

And then the magic words were said, “I could cover you, if you want?”

Dai had never looked so pleading in her life, not even for the new Air Max 24/7 that her father could not understand the need for. Ignoring the thought of using a suspicious man’s help, she hobbled in the direction he pointed out (again) and soon found herself in a blinding white washroom. There was a large panoramic mirror places across the cubicles and bowl-sinks on the counter. Dai dismissed it immediately, having better things to do as she glanced down at the rip on her left leg. She cursed.

Trying to settle the tear in such a way that made it look inconspicuous against the overall image of the dress—it was a large dress-shirt that had three-forth billowing sleeves cinched at her forearms, a wide neck that sat off her dark skin more to the right than the left, and tight as hell around her ass—it was no wonder it split apart after a ridiculous slip like earlier.

Fumbling in her purse that was forced upon her before she left Satsuki’s house, she groaned when she could not find her phone. “Of all the days to leave it behind, you stupid bimbo Dai!”

Dai took a deep breath in, shaking with self-anger at this happening to her, and stepped out of the washroom. What better way to get over this than to leave early, right?

 

* * *

 

 

Taiga glanced behind him as the door of the washroom opened, allowing the grumpy young woman he helped earlier shakily stomp her way almost past him. He glanced down, his red eyes widening as he saw that the impromptu-slit was untouched, so he raised his arm and grabbed her elbow.

“Hey! What’s the big idea—!”

Taiga ignored her, frowning. “Couldn’t fix it, huh?” He does not know why he is more concerned about her than she herself is, unless her grumpiness is a farce covering the embarrassment she was feeling been seen like this. Taiga had to admit though, the woman was beautiful; dark skin unlike he has ever seen on Japanese people, smooth and supple from when he got a chance to feel her skin, and the most tomboyish haircut on a girl but seemed to work well with her high cheekbones and plump pouting lips. Dark blue eyes with rising ire glared back at him when he looked up from her slim figure.

“No, duh. And stop staring, you creep.”

Taiga’s eyebrows shot up.

“I was going to offer you my jacket to wear, but if you insist it would be a crime to assist, then…” he knows he is goading her, but the flush on her dark skin made it worth being a jackass.

She really was very beautiful.

“I’m Kagami Taiga,” he said as he stripped off the dark jacket he had worn, dropping it on her head. “Here you go, Princess.”

“Not a princess!” she snapped, but still shook off the garment and wore it stiffly. The woman drowned in his jacket, a look that made him chuckle, and at her heated glare, he laughed out loud. A few patrons to the establishment turned to look at them, causing the woman to fluster even more.

“Okay, okay, come on,” he directed her with a hand to her lower back. She flinched away, but he did not protest the slight, glad she was not so trusting of strangers. He noted how she had yet to give her name to him, but he guesses teasing her some more would make her feel less concerned about her dress. “You came alone?”

“No!” Taiga smirked, hiding his face as he looked over his shoulder at the people he came with. They were watching him and giving him the _go_ sign, but he waved them off.

“That’s good. You should call them.”

Silence met his suggestion.

“What makes you think I haven’t called yet?” she hedged, eyes darting from one place to another, clearly agitated and looking for something or somebody.

Taiga mentioned this and added, “You also don’t have your phone clutched in your hand like your life depends on it.”

The woman scoffed, turning her head away. Taiga admired the curve of her jaw against the light of the bar behind them, the shadows licking her dark skin in such a tantalising fashion, he almost wanted to chat his way into getting her in the mood. “Don’t think I can’t take care of myself.”

Smiling, a touch of mirth lighting his eyes, he leaned over the two-seater table he had directed her to, “Oh? Then you won’t mind if I head back to my friends now, will you?” She glanced at him from the corner of her blue jewelled eyes, seeing if he was joking. He took a single step back and turned slightly, but a strong grip on his forearm stopped him from moving. “I thought you could take care of yourself?”

Pursing her lips, she hesitantly spoke up. “May I…borrow your phone for a second?” He was sure this time his smirk was evident on his face.

 

* * *

 

 

Dai cursed her womanly wiles, something Satsuki had beaten into her head to make use of when in dire need. Using it on this man, however, made her a little too weary; usually she was able to bite her lips and wink and get the man to do whatever she wanted him to. But this man was a little different—besides outright helping her, he had not looked at her body like many a man had done before. She was not as curvaceous as Satsuki was, nor did she have a heavy bosom like the other girl, so Dai was teased for being flat when younger. Now at twenty, she had a little more in bust, but definitely nowhere close to Satsuki.

Dai does not even know why she was thinking of her breasts because of a man she vaguely remembers the name of.

She is pulled out of her distraction when a slim touchscreen phone is placed on the table before her. Dai glances down and then back at scarlet eyes. His face is devoid of the smirk from before and she wondered if her worry was becoming more obvious than she thought she was hiding.

She needed more practice, _damnit_.

Quickly, she dials Satsuki’s number from memory, not realising her fingers were shaking. She could feel the man’s eyes on her, but she does not face him. She takes a few deep breaths as the phone rings.

“Hello?” Dai almost cries in relief.

“Satsuki, you moron! Where the hell are you??” she whispered harshly into the phone.

“Dai-chan?! Where are _you?!_ I swear, one minute I look at some hot guy at the bar and then you go and disappear on me! Mou!”

“Don’t _mou_ me!” She snapped. “I tore my dress, fool.” Calming herself down at Satsuki’s gasp, she continues, “I’m towards the left of the bar, think you can come and get me?”

“Of course!” Satsuki almost sounded mad for being questioned. Dai’s chest eased. “By the way, Dai-chan, whose phone are you using?”

“You’ll see when you get here. Now hurry!” Satsuki ends the call and while Dai returns the phone to the redhead who had looked away while she was on the call, the pink haired woman flops into view. Satsuki jogs without a care of who is watching, aiming straight for Dai as she rounds the bar and dives into Dai’s outstretched arms.

“Dai-chan!” Satsuki cried, squeezing her neck in the guise of a hug. Dai refrains from choking outright, forcing herself to manage out, “Too tight, idiot.”

“Oh!” Being released, Satsuki’s keen eyes have already caught the redheaded man standing just so at the table. “Is this the person who helped you?”

Dai scowls annoyed that it was obvious someone helped her rather than her being able to fend for herself. “Yea.”

The redhead dips his head ever so slightly, “Kagami Taiga.” His words are a little clipped. Dai looks over Satsuki’s head at him, red eyes burning as they caught hers. She is a little surprised—and maybe a little glad, too—that he was not staring at the bare cleavage for the viewing, what with Satsuki bowing and thanking him for his help.

The man, Kagami Taiga, brushes off the thanks with a curt mumble of it being no problem. Dai watches as Satsuki’s eyes are lighting in mischief but the other woman does not say anything after this exchange. “So you’ll be alright now?” He asks.

Dai swallows, not able to turn away from the direct stare she was subjugated to. In fact, she found herself not wanting to turn away which made her even more frustrated when she realised that. Ripping her sight away, she grumbled, “Of course.”

Kagami lets out a short laugh. “Sure you will. Take care then,” he says, turning to leave.

Dai reaches out automatically, making him stop for the second time in the evening. It suddenly became awkward when he glanced over his shoulder down at her head. His expression said it all, there was no need for words.

“Um…your jacket,” she said as a way of explanation, letting his arm go to remove the jacket.

“Keep it,” he retorts instead, the familiar smirk lighting his lips, “You have my number already, so you can call me when you’re ready to relinquish it.”

She sputters at the insinuation, eyes going wide and mouth dropping. “Hell No!” she shouts out after him, but he is already a few feet away, one arm raised in a wave.

Satsuki nudges her in the side. “Suave move there, Dai-chan, using his phone to get his number.”

Dai scowls largely. “Idiot! There’s no way I’d do something like orchestra tripping and ripping my dress just for his number. Geez,” she mutters, but Satsuki laughs instead, interlocking their hands and leading her back out of the bar.

When Dai returns to a darkened home, instead of chucking her shoes to a corner she will never look at again, she carefully settles them to one side in the _genkan_ , stares at it for a while before crossing into the house proper. In her room, clutching the jacket to her chest, she takes a cursory sniff—as a precaution—and is eased as well as set on fire by the strong scent of the man she met today, his name slipping off her tongue smoothly, “Kagami Taiga.”

Dai sleeps soundly as she dreams of crimson eyes and strong hands.

 

 

 


	2. Another Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> ****
> 
>  
> 
> **Dai is at a loss in what to do.**
> 
>  
> 
> **Should she call him or should she...?**  
> 

Dai tumbles off the bed in such a start, taking the duvet along with her, that she nearly brains herself on the floor if it were not for her messy lifestyle. Flopping gracelessly onto the piles of clothes she had stripped off before her bath, she idly scratches her head while yawning.

“What time is it?” Despite knowing she will not receive an answer, she still talks out loud. She pushes herself over the edge of the wide bed, realizing she was naked, and frowned. She cannot remember anything beyond stripping off her clothes for a bath. “Huh,” she finds her still damp towel lounging on another corner of the bed, clicked her tongue at it, and blindly smacks the desk clock to face her. She blearily blinks at the time, watching despondently as the last digit changed a number higher.

Recognising the time for what it was, Dai ambled onto her feet and to her bathroom, freshening up for what was left of the day. There was another mess in the titled room—no surprise there if she could hardly remember the events of last night—so she ignores it as she washes her face and brushes her teeth. Exiting after what she thought was an ordeal to the start of her morning, she pauses at the daunting shadow cast against her feet from the window. She cocks her head toward it, and blinks one time too many, at the dark brown-black jacket airing on a hanger.

Everything came back to her in a rush and she blushed.

Awkwardly, she walked about her room space and kicked dirty clothes to one large pile in the corner, while she found a new set from the previous laundry batch (still perched precariously on the edge of her computer table) and dressed herself, self-conscious ever since she saw the jacket. She tries to keep it out of her mind, but to no avail can she stop her eyes from gazing in its general direction before she catches herself.

“Stop it,” she mumbles. “Don’t be an idiot, Dai. You have no time for all that now.” She did not, which was true, having cut-offs to make and whatever it was her uncontrolled physiological signs were pointing at, they were wrong and she was not what they were saying she was. “You don’t even know him,” she added for effect.

Red eyes slightly hooded but still bright, a slight turn of the lips as he smiled filled her head. Dai shook the appendage vigorously.

“I better get rid of that before it’s too late.”

She walks out the door, shoulders twitching as she closed the door behind, the weight of the jacket’s shadow still peeking under the door slit.

 

* * *

 

Satsuki nags at her to dry clean the article of clothing before giving it back to its owner. This just causes the redhead to remain on her mind for a very long time. Longer than she had planned for it to linger, and now, a week later when her schedule picks up a grand time to be oh-so-free, Dai stares at the scrawling digits Satsuki saved for her. Glancing at the stack of post-its beside her thigh, eye twitching, Dai thinks,  _multiple times_.

Her slender fingers hesitate on the keypad. She has not saved his number—afraid of what she might do with his contact at hand—so she dials it from one of the post-its Satsuki was so generous with. It is a lie that she eyes the digits on the planar surface before dialling it, her motor muscles already memorising it.

“It’s now or never,” she mumbles, one part scared and another part exasperated. The worst that could happen was that the redhead,  _Kagami Taiga_  she recalls, forgets about her.

The phone rings, once, twice, and just as she heard it ring the third time, she pressed the end button. She screeched, hearing the brief, “Ha” before the call ended.

“He picked up!!!” she threw her phone away, backing away from it to put a good seven feet in between them. The dark metal of the phone gleamed slightly on the sofa cushion she chucked it at and stared at it, breathing in slowly and carefully, calming down her racing heart.

The phone rang and Dai backtracked more, hitting her head on the shelf behind the L-shaped lounge in the living room, cursing at her lack of attention. The second ring echoed solemnly, awaiting her reaction, and she whimpered. “What do I say? What do I say?” Different scenarios went through her head. “Wait! Why the hell am I being such a girl!” slapping her face with both hands, she straightened and crawled decisively across the bouncing surface of the white sofa, arm outstretched when she could nearly reach it. As she flipped open the phone on the fourth ring, the call disconnected.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” she roared at the innocent device. “YOU BETTER TELL ME YOU’RE PLAYING AROUND WITH ME!!”

There was a lull after her explosion, the chirping of the early afternoon jays outside the window, and the crinkling out the leaves as they brushed against each other and the window pane was the only sound entering her closed off space. Dai heaved in air. Gripping her phone tightly, angrily, she redialled the missed call notification and almost slapped herself again when she placed the phone to her ear. Fuming, she waited.

On the fourth ring, Dai’s grip around her phone was reaching breaking point, until the gruff, “Hai, Kagami here,” sounded out.

She blinked.

“Hello?” His voice called out. “I’m guessing this is the Dai-Hime I met last week?”

Dai growled at the nickname. “Shut up, don’t call me that. Aomine, its Aomine Akari.”

There is a brief silence before a confused “Huh?” is heard. She is already sighing before the question comes out fully. “I clearly heard your friend call you Dai-chan~,” he sing-songs her name.

“It’s…when I was young,” she is pouting, she knows this for sure since her words are coming out a little awkwardly, but she cannot help it at this point, annoyed, “I was a tomboy. My grandfather used to tease me and call me ‘Daiki’ and not Akari. Some of the children in the village started calling me Daiki-chan, then, and soon enough,” she glares at the large photo where a picture of her family lays happily for all to see, “My mom goes and tells everyone about it. Including my childhood friend. Since then, it’s…kinda stuck.” She can feel her cheeks heating up. “Now I tend to ignore Akari unless it’s an official thing.”

Kagami does not take long to laugh. “Hahaha,” he enunciates, wheezing, “So the ‘ki’ is Akari, huh?”

“Nn,” she agrees.

“That’s a very pretty name,” he adds, and Dai holds the phone with both hands, clutching it tightly as she voicelessly screamed at it.

 

* * *

 

 

Taiga could imagine the look of the woman’s face as he cut the line when she picked up, wondering if she knew he already had her number. He had figured, from her attitude, that it would be a while before she got around to honestly call him, so he had called the number of the other girl.

Momoi Satsuki, he recalls, is a frightfully insightful woman. Taiga reminds himself to not step on that woman’s toes ever.

So when he sees the number flash on his screen, ecstatic does not even cross the list of adjectives he was. Then the humour at being cut off, and playing the same on her, rose his vindictive nature that he thought was long eradicated from his personality. It felt refreshing playing this childish game; he was just glad she did not refuse to call him back.

_So she’s competitive_ , he thought, listening to her hitched breath after he complimented her name.

“And?” he asked, leaning against his stuffed chair. He had yet to break in the upholstery, and it was still squeaking slightly. “What do you want me to call you?”

Again, a noise close to hysteric irritation sounded, and he bit his cheeks, knowing that laughing now would ruin the atmosphere. “Dai! Call me Dai!”

“But you got angry when I used that name earlier,” he grinned into the air. “You’re being contradicting. This is confusing.”

She caught the bait, huffing out, “You said Dai-Hime, and really, that just means you see me as a spoilt princess.”

Taiga laughed, “You caught on well, Dai-Hime-chan. So now what’s going to happen?”

“Huh?” Dai sounded cute being confused. His cheeks were hurting with all the smiling he was doing.

A knock on his office door signalled the arrival of his secretary who was glaring at being ignored when she called. He had seen the light, muted the call and had decided to take Dai’s call instead. Aida Riko tapped her foot angrily on the uncarpeted section of the floor, arms crossed against her small chest. Taiga held out a finger, still smiling—even if Aida was personally scarier than the CEO—and asked again, “Are you going to meet me for lunch or something? Or do you like my jacket that much?”

“That’s so not true! I don’t even look at it from where I hung it in my room!!” she cries out, indignant. “It works well as a sun blocker!”

Taiga laughed, figuring the woman did not know that her words meant she knew exactly where it was and probably was so aware of it, that it embarrassed her to speak of it. He was really starting to like this… _tsundere_  character of hers. “If you say so, Dai-Hime-chan. So how about dinner tonight, then? How’s seven sound?”

“Oh, don’t you act so smooth, asking me out like I will say yes!” She snapped.

“Hmm? But don’t you have to return my jacket? I’m only free in the evenings, you know,” Aida comes over to smack his desk, and he shamelessly winks at her, not even bother to hide that he is holding up the meeting he had called in an emergency earlier, enraptured with the inane conversation with a woman who just would not stop fighting. It was the first time for him and it was a time he was going to enjoy, overbearing-Aida or not.

“Ah-! That-!”

“So tonight, seven. At the Roppongi Hills we’ll meet. Do you like sushi?”

There is sudden silence. “ _Suki_ ,” she mutters, softly, and Taiga laughs then.

“Okay, that’s settled. See you tonight, Dai-Hime-chan!”

Bristling again, Dai scowls out, “Stop calling me that!!”

Just before they ended their conversation, Taiga stopped her with, “Hey, Dai?”

 

* * *

 

 

Dai was a millisecond away from ending the disgruntling call when she hears him again. Curious, she places the receiver end to her ear. “Nnh?”

“The memory of you that night is still shining in my heart. Maybe I’ll have more to add tonight as well?”

“Argh! You, you Bakagami!!”

She snaps her wrist as she chucks the device for the second time in a span of ten minutes, peeved more than she can remember in one sitting. Her cheeks felt hot, thinking of how his voice dropped to a lower decibel, a pitch so smooth, like he was caressing her ears with swe— Dai shook her head, ignoring the temptation that was presented in the form of Kagami Taiga. Besides, he did not even use the right word for her name. “Stupid girl, he said  _kagayaki, kagayaki._  Not Akari.”

Dai got off her knees, realising she had being sitting in  _seiza_  for the entirety of the conversation, went to ransack her closet for something decent to wear. She would kill the idiot redhead if a repeat of the first night happened tonight as well, and as an added precaution, she wore tights.

_Serves him right!_

 

* * *

 

**Author’s Note:**

“Daiki” is made up of two kanji as everyone already knows, _Great_ and _Radiance_. Unfortunately for genderbent Aomine, there are no girl names with the same equivalent characters unless we go for “Hikaru” or “Akari” or “Teru”. The kanji for these female names are written with one character itself ( _Radiance_ ); when using it as the noun form you would say ‘ _kagaya/kagayai/kagayaki_ [ **which is what Kagami was using** ] and for male names it becomes the most common _ki_ , and for females…well, there’s the list.

I could have gone with Kagaya…but…Aomine Kagaya or Kagami Kagaya…that’s just asking for it OTL.

 

I think I changed Aomine's character too much. ~~In my defence, I just finished watching Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun's latest episode.~~ D:

Reviews or comments please? 


	3. Dinner Night Tête-à-tête

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taiga digs himself a grave he cannot come out of. Ever.

Sorry for the long wait!! D:

**Warning(s):** Fem!Aomine Daiki. Out of character is obviously understood, I hope. (And I was sneezing too many times to remember if I was following a flow or not -_-.)

* * *

 

Taiga watched as the woman hesitantly made her way to the table, following the floor manager suspiciously. It looked as though everyone but Dai was in on some grand scheme, and while it was hilarious, it irked that she was still suspicious of him. Not that he could blame her, but it would have been nice—who was he kidding? _It would have been awesome_ —if Dai blushes prettily at him and made use of all her womanly charm.

His eyes unconsciously drifted down, taking in her attire.

_I am an idiot. What did I expect after hearing she was a tomboy in her childhood, and now still looks and acts like one?_ Taiga stretched his smile nonetheless as Dai stumbled minutely as she swivelled to sit on the chair they were assigned for a few minutes.

Dai looked to be unsure what to greet him with, teeth worrying her bottom lips, hooded eyes darting side-to-side. Amused, Taiga drops his chin into his palm, resting his elbow on the table, taking in the sight before him. Despite being the proud tomboy, and wearing some kind of jeggings, Dai’s long legs looked marvellous, and the heels on her larger than the average dainty feet looked absolutely sexy. He wonders if he compliments that aspect, he would get kicked by one of the long limbs, and liking a pain-free dinner, he smiled more to occupy his mouth.

“Stop looking like that,” came the mumbled words.

Taiga chuckled. “Is that the first thing you say?” He shook his head. “Really, you have no manners.”

One of Dai’s carefully sculpted eyebrows turned down, twitching at the end. “I can be worse than this by just getting off my ass and walking back out there.”

Taiga smirked. “Then the sushi you so willing came here for would be lost to your grabby hands, right?”

Dai scowled, pretty glossed lips twisted in a cross of a pout and downward tilt.

Taiga narrowed his eyes. “Hey,” she blinked at him, “do you usually wear lip-gloss?”

“What kind of question is that?!”

“Well…” he looked over at her lips, the blushing cheeks and the light reflecting off her dark irises. “You’re making this face that says you don’t bother, so now it feels awkward.”

There is silence interrupted by a server who instructs them to follow him. He is politely jovial, professional smiles and all, but Taiga was thinking of the mess he created back at the table. If she was not awkward before, he clearly made her feel awkward now.

They get seated in a hollowed table area, their feet dangling inside the hole. The server tells them that he hopes they enjoy their stay, they could call him when they were ready, but _would you like to place your drink order now?_

The second the man leave, Taiga steels himself for the inevitable.

The awkwardness settles like a comfortable glove, and it takes all of Taiga’s might not to grind his teeth. He glances across the table at Dai, the woman pouting and looking to the side, engrossed in the designs edging the table they sat at. Long lashes fluttered a few times and if he was not watching, he would not have seen the slight flicker of her blue eyes peek at him before snapping away again. He would have chalked up the pinked cheeks to her makeup, but the lone bead of sweat from her hairline said otherwise. Chuckling, he eases up.

“So we’re both bad at this.”

Dai’s neck cricked as she glared at him. “Oh yea? What happened to the suave man on the phone today?”

Taiga pursed his lips, hoping the curving of his cheeks did not show her he was holding back a laugh. “I wasn’t trying to be suave. You’re just too much fun to talk to.” He remembered to evade from using words like _cute_ and _beautiful_ because he was not trying to mollify her or get her into bed—not that it was not an option, but he would rather take it a little slower than most of his friends started relationships.

Dai folds her arms on the table, puffing her cheeks. She keeps looking away which brings forth an urge to physically turn her face towards his; he clenches his fists to stop them from advancing, placing them under the table.

The waiter comes by, smiles galore, and asks them their order. Without looking at the a la carte menu, Taiga rattled off a series of names, and the waiter, adept as he was without breaking a sweat, took down whatever he said.

Dai however, watched mouth agape.

“What the hell is that?” Her voice stuttered. “That sounds like a freaking curse.”

Red eyebrows shot up. “I’m placing our order.”

She glared for the umpteenth time. “I didn’t even see the menu.”

Taiga held in his sigh, chest filling up with air. “Well, we can order again after.” He waved off the waiter who bowed low and quickly left the couple alone, as though he knew a fight was brewing.

 

* * *

 

Dai was feeling even worse now, being treated like a girl who did not know any better. Or could not read a menu according to the brute Kagami Taiga. How was she supposed to enjoy this date she was forced on if he was going to be stepping on her toes every which way?

Almost going forward to snap at him for being a chauvinistic being she could do without in her life—there would be plenty of sushi opportunities, even if they were not from this place for more than a few months to come and maybe not as appetising (she discreetly licks her lips, in case of drool)—and is about to start the impromptu verbal assault when she notices the dip of eyebrows at the man’s nose bridge, and the deep set frown on his face.

“W-what is it?”

Kagami shrugged, strong shoulders moving artfully as he leaned back, away from the table. “I’m used to ordering usually everything on the menu and whoever’s with me, normally just eats off that. I just,” he pauses, and now she is certain that it is a blush adorning his manly features, “didn’t think to offer you the courtesy this time around.”

“Well,” Dai postures, huffing prettily as Satsuki has engrained in her, cross arms under her breasts and chest sticking out, “Next time don’t jump the gun. I might not be a lady, but you should still be courteous.” She sniffed.

There is silence on the table that prompts her to face him again. Au contraire, at this point, men usually sputter in aghast when she speaks as such, but Kagami is looking for all the world too smug for her liking.

Catching her confused look, he says, soft, low, a shiver rolling slowly down her spine at the tone, “You said next time. I’m happy that I haven’t ruined all my chances yet.”

Dai blushed furiously.

 

* * *

 

Taiga, despite himself, was enjoying their awkward date.

They spent more time snapping their chopsticks to outdo the other, grabbing at fatty tuna, and when that ran out between orders, their chopsticks would snag on each other, holding the other’s utensil to stop any movement towards the meatier tuna pieces. That was, until Taiga brandished his left hand and snapped up the sushi in record breaking speed, relishing not only the mouthful but the stunned dropping of Dai’s pretty, nonglossy mouth.

“…That’s cheating!!” She snarled, pulling at another pair of chopsticks to mirror the same advance, fumbling adorably. Taiga probably should check his eyes if he thought the fiercely scowling, slender, muscular woman were a pleasing sight.

It did not take Dai longer than a few tries to get her left hand to coordinate proper movement—whether they were decent was something he would beg to differ—but the mere fact that she easily picked up the feat was amazing. Taiga did not know if he could fall for a woman like Dai more than he already was; it scared him. The more he found out about her, he was hoping that they would be more grotesque things: messy eater, a fighter-cock, a lazy-eyed woman, a tomboy; anything he was adding to the list was something he was insanely attracted to her about.

_What is wrong with me?_ He drew back physically, watching the dark skinned woman eat merrily uninterrupted.

The hard vibration on the table distracted them from their musings, and sheepishly Dai dropped the _akami_ in her grasp, and looked at her phone. “Oh, sorry, I have to get this.” And then, instead of moving away, she snapped open the phone and drawled out, “I’m eating prime sushi right now, so this better be good.”

Taiga covered his face. _And she was rude to boot_.

“Hah?!” Dai sounded, unwomanly. She thumped the table, like how an old drunkard at a family bar would, tie around his balding head and demanding why he could not get any more drinks that night. “I pass that physical ages ago. They told me to wait for when the selections to start so that I could go for try-outs and be picked like everyone else.”

Taiga watched on, certain he should not, but it was rather difficult for him to play deaf and dumb, so he stared right at the disgruntled woman straight on.

“No, no, no!” she started, eyes wide. For once he can see with greater clarity her blue irises, and the white sclera. Taiga takes note of these little things, the way his skin pales at whatever is being said on the other line and the way new sweat beads trail her hairline. Long fingers that had abandoned both sets of chopsticks and clenched tightly against the surface, surprisingly short neat nails dragging bluntly. “He’s a perv, Satsuki! Last time he said that if I wanted to be power forward, I had to let him help _after practice_ to become a well-known player.”

The words struck Taiga sharply. “What?”

Dai glanced at him, briefly, then dismissed him, getting back into a conversation that Taiga had no ears for, stewing uncomfortably in his seat with no outlet for his burning anger. It was slightly worrisome that the woman across from him roused such emotions from him on their second meeting while she can so easily disregard him without notice, like she had on the phone.

As Dai put the phone down, he reached over and grabbed her hand, firm and unmoving.

 

* * *

 

Red swirling orbs encompassed her sight when she jerked her head up.

Swallowing the shocked gasp forcefully, Dai tried to pull her hand away, but the grip only tightened. “Ka-Kagami?”

“Hey Hime,” he said, tone far from joking, “who’s this ‘perv’ you were talking ‘bout?”

Dai released an embarrassed laugh from her throat, easing up her shoulders. Knowing by now that Kagami Taiga was an awkward gentleman, he must have only reacted to the untoward reaction she as a female was getting. She waved him off with her other hand, motion that made predatorily red eyes flicker to the side and back on her. Despite the warmth she was generating due to his unmoving stare, strangely erotic and pleasing, the tiny baby hairs on her nape rose at attendance.

She licked her lips.

“The manager for my team, he’s a little…hands-on,” she mumbled.

One of those spilt eyebrows she found both hilarious and cute jumped up, “Team?”

Dai nodded, knowing she should not, but edging closer to towards the leaning man. “Yea, for my basketball team.”

Both eyes jumped up. “Basketball?” His tone changed abruptly, sitting straight and stiff, moving his hand away from hers. She frowned. “You play basketball?”

Dai nodded hesitantly, watching closing as Kagami’s demeanour changed from weary to awed to excited and then he groaned.

“You play basketball,” he covered his face.

Dai geared up, leaning onto her palms over the table and glaring right at his bowed head, so angry, she cannot even form the words properly to insult him to hell and back and to hell again.

“What’s wrong with basketball?!” She demanded of this man that was looking down on her life choices, on her life, because basketball was everything to her, and here comes someone she thought she could possibly see something with, and he—! “What’s wrong?!” She demanded, uncaring if her voice rose levels it was not meant to and that it was more trembling than it should be at this point; she did not want to seem like a child, _like a girl_ , and damn if—!

“What’s wrong is,” Kagami said, speaking first into his palms before raising his head, puppy eyes sparkling miserably at her. Dai jerked a little away, confused, “Is that I’ve fallen so in love with you, there’s hardly any rhyme or reason anymore.”

“Wha—?!” Dai dropped back into her seat, shocked, at the turn of events. “What are you saying?”

Kagami rested his elbows on the table, cupping his chin in his palms held at a V, and moodily sighed out, “Like, how can I ever let such a perfect being like you out of my sight now?”

“Hah?!”

Kagami gesticulated, widely. “I mean, sure you’re a horribly messy and rude person, and you fight with me more than I’ve fought with anyone I’ve come across—and trust me, I find myself easily in fights—and then there’s you,” he points, and Dai wonders how he can call her rude, “Who’s sitting there, fighting with me on a first date, for crying out loud, and I find out the one thing I should have never known if I wanted to get away from you.”

Dai grasped the connotation quickly, spurred, and snapped, “If you want to get away from me, don’t bother, I’ll leave first!”

“Wait!” Kagami grabbed her wrist, effectively stopping her, and with a pleading countenance, said, “For a basketball fanatic to find a basketball player for a girlfriend, how lucky is that?”

Dai blushed so hard, she forgot to shout out: “Who’s whose girlfriend?!”

 

* * *

 

 

Taiga, without perchance, grinned as he drove Dai all the way home. The woman, so quiet since the outburst in the restaurant, had yet to deny what he had said, and taking it as his luck, he slowly makes his way over to her place.

It was, after all, completely in his books to be the gentleman and drop her off her doorstep, even if he skips two dates before he sneaks off with a kiss.

Laughing merrily at the light peck he managed to steal, Dai reaches for one of her high heels and throws it hard at his direction, aim true, if it were not for Taiga’s reflexes. He stares at the lone projectile, picks it up, feels the heft of it, and grins, “Does this mean we’d have to set-up another date for you to get this back?” His voice echoes in the dim, street-lit neighbourhood.

“No!” Dai snaps, voice and face still endearing, even if she was glaring daggers at him. “Either give it back or throw it out!”

“I’ll keep it!” He glances down at it. Then, bringing it up high enough, he asks, “Is your basketball shoes the same size and fit?”

“What?!” Dai sounded incredulous. “You idiot, those are stilettoes! My AJs are so totally of another world!”

Taiga lit up. “Air Jordans?! You have Air Jordans?” He wants to come closer, but Dai still has the other shoe of the pair and from her last throw, she was very strong for a woman.

“Of course I do!” Offended, she turned her head away, arms held tight under her breasts. Taiga admired the silhouette, the sleek, pointed nose, and the fine sculpted cheekbones. “I’ve a collection that would shame any man even!”

“You jest,” he deadpans. If there was one thing Taiga could boast about, it was his AJ collection of every year and model, and even the few special editions that had come out over the years. “I don’t  believe you.”

Dai turned to glare at him, one arm already rummaging blindly in her purse, pulling out her keys and jabbing it into the keyhole. Pushing the door mightily so that it ricocheted back close, she demanded, “Why don’t you come in and see for yourself?!”

Smirking, Taiga confidently strides closer, pocketing the stiletto for future use, and bypassing the scowling woman—an expression he realises is her default with him—he cheerily says, “Don’t mind if I do.”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:** Was this even relatively enjoyable?! (I honestly didn't like this one much. Here and there, okay...but it's been a while...OTL)

**Author's Note:**

> AoKaga Prompt: Shoes.
> 
> Reviews and comments are appreciated :)


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